I'm taking a break, thank you very much
by BiPride76
Summary: "Heath." David blinked at Heath with glassy eyes. "Why are you here? I thought you were going out to lunch?" "I came over to tell you to stop." David paused before he croaked out a laugh. "Heh, funny." Heath's frown deepened. "I'm not kidding." or, this was written in celebration of David finally cutting down his posting schedule


Officially, it wasn't an intervention.

At least, that wasn't the original idea.

All they wanted was for him to rest, to slow down and take a breath. That's all they wanted, even before the 7 am posts.

So when Heath had finally had enough of David shuffling around looking like a sick ghost, and when Joe couldn't make anymore jokes about how grueling the editing process was without feeling bad, and when _Jason_ was the one reminding David to rest, sleep, eat, shower, they realized that this could only go on for so much longer.

That _eventually_ something had to be done.

Natalie brought it to Joe's attention. But unsurprisingly, Joe had already seen it. With the constant amount of time he spent at David's house editing the podcast, or just filming in general, it was kind of hard to miss the frantic energy that surrounded the younger male.

And while that's been a constant for all the time that Joe's known David, recently, that energy had taken on an anxious tinge. Before, David rushing about the house planning bits was fun and the energy he had was infectious, making Joe and all the others laugh along. But now it made Joe nervous for David.

Joe told Jason, who nodded along to every point.

Jason had noticed it too, even predicted it way back before the downward spiral began. David had always pushed himself so hard and Jason couldn't help but wonder when that would give out.

And once it did, what would happen?

Jason absently mentioned it to Josh, who, while preoccupied with his new addition, saw exactly what he did.

There was no one he knew that worked harder than David.

Josh had come over many a time to film with David, only to find him passed out on his couch, dead tired. Sometimes, he would even stick around and he'd see Dave's phone alarm go off. He'd get up groggily, no doubt still exhausted, and rush off to film a bit he must have planned last night.

It hurt his heart to see his friend go through so much trouble, only to get screwed over by demonetization.

Josh wished he could help, but all he could do was offer advice whenever David asked for it and be there when he was needed.

Josh mentioned it to Zane, who only sighed and looked dejected.

"Don't you think we've tried?" Zane asked. "Me, Heath, Jason, Joe. We've all tried to tell him to sleep or get an editor or something but..."

"You don't have an editor." Josh pointed out and Zane laughed.

"That's true. But I also don't post three times a week."

And Josh couldn't argue with that.

Heath was the one who finally decided to do something about it.

He watched David nearly pull out his hair with stress as he tried to edit his vlog, he's seen him forget to eat for days at a time because he was so consumed with a four minute and twenty second vlog that Heath knew would be good no matter what time it was finished.

So when Heath got a call from Natalie that David couldn't come to lunch today because he was sick _again_, he told everyone to meet him at David's house.

Josh and Zane pulled up only a little while after Heath got there and they both looked confused.

"What's up?" Zane asked in lieu of a greeting. "I thought we were going to get lunch?"

Heath nodded. "Yeah. We are. There's just something that we need to do first."

"We?" Josh questioned.

"Yeah. It should've happened a while ago."

Heath walked up to David's front door determinedly with Josh and Zane trailing behind, still confused at what was going on. Natalie answered when he rang the doorbell and let him in.

David was sitting on his couch, swaddled in various blankets and pieces of merch, clicking at his laptop. He looked absolutely awful. His pale face only further emphasized his deep bags. He seemed to be shaking slightly with a fever and Heath felt a protective mothering force emerge from somewhere inside him.

"Dave."

He didn't look up at his name being called. He was too invested in adding a prerecorded voice over.

Heath sat down across from the pale man and he startled slightly.

"Heath." David blinked at Heath with glassy eyes. His voice was hoarse and just the sound of it made Heath wince. "Why are you here? I thought you were going out to lunch?"

"I came over to tell you to stop."

David paused before he croaked out a laugh. "Heh, funny."

Heath's frown deepened. "I'm not kidding."

David's laughter peeled off and they both stared at each other. Heath wondered he was wasting his time, just like all the other times he tried this but now something was different. There was something desperate in Dave's eyes that steeled Heath's resolve.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself David." He sighed. "You're killing yourself here."

David dropped his eyes down to his computer screen and shifted in his bundle of blankets.

"Come on. When was the last time you could remember not feeling sick?" Heath asked. "When was the last time you actually got a full night's rest?"

"I-I don't remember." David admitted. And while that answer pained Heath, hearing it was good. It meant that Heath was getting through to him.

"You can't keep doing this." Heath repeated. "Hard work isn't just a mind game. You having a strong work ethic is admirable, but you can't really be admired when you aren't alive."

"Well I can't just stop." David murmured and Heath was alarmed at the tears that were welling in his eyes. "This-this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I have. I can't just give it up cause I feel _sick_ sometimes."

"Maybe it is a once in a lifetime opportunity." Josh said from behind Heath. "But so is life. And quite honestly, I dont think you're even happy with what you're doing right now."

"Yeah," Zane chimed in. "And no one said that you had to 'give it up'. Just take a break dude."

David sighed, reaching up to scrub his face with his hand. "Just-what the hell do I do?"

"Maybe drop a day of posting?" Zane suggested and David looked up in alarm at that.

"_What_?"

"No, but actually think about it." Heath insisted. "One less deadline gives you more time to plan to film cooler things."

David frowned and looked down at his screen again but Heath got excited, because that meant that David was actually considering it.

It'd be nice to have his friend back instead of the ghostly looking vlog machine that was sitting in front of him.

"You'd have more editing time and be able to plan better bits." Josh added.

Natalie spoke up quietly. "Not to mention you'd get to finally sleep."

At this David made a soft sad sound and placed his head into his was obviously overwhelmed and the sight of it made Heath's heart clench and mentally he decided 'fuck it'. He leaned over, gently moving the laptop from David's lap and handing it off to Josh.

Heath curled his arms around David and gently tugged. David folded himself into Heath's hold with a loud sniffle.

"And now this way, when I ask if you want to go out to lunch, you'd actually be able to come." Heath said, a slight teasing lilt to his voice.

David chuckled, he still sounded hoarse and congested, but it was a much lighter sound than the laugh earlier and it made Heath smile.

"Maybe." Dave muttered into Heath's chest. "That'd be nice."

Heath could tell that the younger man was shutting down, his muscles relaxing and words slurring ever so slightly.

He waited until the man's breathing evened out before gently maneuvering him so he was comfortable.

Hopefully now, David would smarten up and realize that his mental and physical well being was more important than keeping up a strict posting schedule. And if he didn't realize that, then he'd have friends around to help him realize it.


End file.
